Resume guidance for former traveler

[Swellz]

I have a couple questions. I'm a travel nurse currently on a local assignment, but looking to change specialties and therefore get a staff job. I haven't had to do a proper resume in a couple years, so bear with me.

Is it still recommended that you put 10 years of work experience on your resume? I have only been a nurse for 5.5 years, and although I have work history prior to nursing, it just doesn't seem relevant. I only had one staff job before traveling, so if I had to include non-nursing work history I could still fit everything on one page.

I've been reading your advice to others and figure I'll condense my travel nursing under one heading, list the locations/hospitals, and elaborate on what I did in bullet points. I worked in different specialties and am trying to emphasize my oncology and stepdown experience. Is the place for this in those bullet points or in the cover letter?

Do you include experience with different EMARs? It's a plus with traveling but I wouldn't think a staff job would care. It's one line though, so it's easy to fit.

I went to a job fair a few months ago and although I genuinely believe I did well, I didn't get a call on a job I was qualified for (same level of care, specialty). I threw together a resume at the last second (I didn't know about the job fair until the morning of), and neglected to update my Objective/Summary thing to reflect that I was transitioning out of travel nursing, which is what I assume hurt me. If I were in their shoes, looking at a stack of resumes, I didn't look like a long term employee on paper. Any guidance anyone can give is appreciated. I just want to have everything prepped for when I'm ready to make some moves in a couple months.

[jalilly]

I don't think it's necessary to include 10 years of work experience especially if your prior work experience is unrelated to healthcare. I would put your prior education, for example if you received a degree in another field I would put that on my resume. It's most important to highly the last 5 year's worth of nursing experience. Keep your resume to 1 page.

Yes, you should include your experiences with different EMARs. At the bottom of my resume I have "relevant certifications and skills" section and I have "EPIC Software and Meditech Software" listed.

If you want to emphasize your oncology and step down travel nursing experiences, you should arrange your resume so those travel nursing experiences are closest to the top. It's all about trying to get people to read those things first!

Hope this helps.